Learning management systems (LMSs) conventionally are closed learning systems by which a corporation makes teaching content available on-line to employees who are authorized to subscribe thereto under management mandate or permission. Typically, such teaching content is stored in complex forms on central servers, and access thereto most often requires the involvement of an LMS's information technology (IT) department to decode and debug. Thus each attempted e-learning content access requires a customized effort with expensive and expert involvement. Such access tends to be one-way rather than interactive, i.e. individual students each review the teaching content in its ‘canned’ form without any ability to interact with the author or an instructor or peers, and without any ability to critique, update, question, or otherwise affect the teaching content. Even the author or instructor of the on-line content in accordance with traditional systems does not have any update, revision, or augmentation control over the content after it is data-based (e.g., stored) in a central server that forms part of the LMS. Thus, loss of access by a learner or student, and loss of control by an author or instructor of courseware, characterizes the conventional LMS e-teaching/e-learning model.
Content delivery networks (CDNs) conventionally provide application-specific on-line content, e.g. music via ITUNES™ (ITUNES is a trademark owned by Apple Computer, Inc.). However, those with skill in the art will appreciate that downloading and playing music from ITUNES is unidirectional and non-interactive, in that a track is simply downloaded, played, and listened to, requiring and enabling no response or feedback or other reverse communication from the listener back to the source of the downloaded content. Those with skill in the art also will appreciate that world-wide musical digital content formats (e.g., MP3, etc.) provide universal formatting standards for such music downloads, thus simplifying the players that are designed for musical download systems.
The Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) and Aviation Industry Computer-Based Training Committee (AICC) standards claim to offer such an interoperable e-learning content standard. Unfortunately, in practice they do not guarantee interoperability. Newer standards are periodically released that require LMS systems to also be updated. Moreover, content that is claimed to conform to the standards may not be deliverable on every standards-compliant LMS due to differences in LMS system programmers' or content authors' interpretation of the standard or programming errors that only arise when a specific SCORM or AICC package is delivered through a specific LMS. Further, once most SCORM or AICC courses are loaded into an LMS they must be manually updated, which makes it generally impossible for a course author or content provider to control or track content once it has been deployed. Those with skill in the art will appreciate that vendors of some products, for example SKILLSOFT™ (SKILLSOFT is a trademark owned by Skillsoft Ireland Limited), use AICC to centrally host and manage content. Nevertheless, they do not provide for secure but distributable central storage of a broad range of content. Moreover, SKILLSOFT may require a technical integration with the IT team, which can be costly and complex.